A week behind schedule, the NJSIAA girls soccer state tournament is scheduled to finally kickoff today.

With the exception of a few schools that remain closed at the Jersey Shore because of the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, it’s finally time to start the race to see which schools will be playing for state championships on Sunday Dec. 2 at The College of New Jesey’s Lions Stadium.

The only game that had been pushed back and reported to The Trentonian as of last night was the South Jersey Non-Public A contest pitting Mt. St. Mary’s Academy at No. 5-seeded Notre Dame. It will now be played Friday at 2 p.m. at ND’s Msgr. Walter Nolan Field, with the winner moving on next week to play at No. 4 seed Bishop Ahr.

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Three Central Jersey Group IV games, five in Central Jersey III featuring Colonial Valley Conference schools, and two in C.J. II are on tap today.

Steinert is to host Hillsborough at 2 p.m., while the West Windsor-Plainsboro teams hit the road as No. 16 WW-P South plays at No. 1 Montgomery at 6 p.m. and WW-P North visits No. 2 Rancocas Valley at 2 p.m.

The C.J. III schedule features two games matching CVC teams — Nottingham at No.4 Allentown at 2 p.m. and Lawrence at No. 2 Princeton at 2 p.m.

Also at 2 p.m. Hopewell Valley, the No. 3 seed, is to host Neptune, Hightstown plays at Somerville and Hamilton at Wall. In C.J. II, No. 8 Ewing hosts No. 9 Delran at 2 p.m. and defending sectional champ Robbinsville hits the road for a match with Pt. Pleasant Boro, providing the shore team has found a playable field after its community was ravaged by Sandy.

In the Prep A state playoffs that will be played tomorrow, No. 3 seed Peddie is at No. 2 seed Blair, while 15-2-0 Pennington, this year’s Mercer County Tournament champ, begins it’s run for a 10th straight state crown, hosting Oak Knoll. The winners meet for the state crown Sunday at the home field of the higher seed.

The Nottingham at Allentown match is a repeat of last year’s C.J. III tourney when Elyse Diamond’s Northstars shocked the Redbirds, 2-0, to avenge a regular-season 4-0 setback in a CVC contest.

Under first-year coach Coleen Weber, 15-3-1 Allentown is enjoying its finest season ever, having made it to the MCT title game two weeks ago where it lost 4-3 in a penalty shootout to defending champ Pennington after the teams played to a 1-1 double-overtime stalemate.

“What we took away from that game was that going into the state tournament we feel we can hang with anyody,” said Weber. “If we can hang with Pennington for 100 minutes, we can go head-to-head with anybody in the state.

“To play Pennington as tough as we did and never break speaks for the character of our team,” said Weber.

Starting today that character will be put to the test again as the Redbirds hope to get off to a strong start in their bid for Central Jersey laurels — and avenge a loss in last year’s state tournament opener they haven’t forgotten.